Executive summary
The way people receive information is changing quickly. In the past, society received news mainly from television, newspapers, radio or news websites. Today, for many people, the first source of information is social media: Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Telegram, X or another platform. This means that citizens often no longer go directly to the media. Media reaches citizens through algorithms.
This is not only a technological change. It reshapes trust, democracy, political debate, youth awareness, the business model of media, the spread of disinformation and the formation of the public agenda. When a person sees news not because an editor decided it was important, but because an algorithm decided it would generate engagement, the logic of media changes.
According to BTU experts, the main question for Georgia is no longer only “how do we fight disinformation?” The broader question is: how can Georgia build a trusted news, media literacy, platform transparency and AI-era information security strategy in which citizens have not only more information, but reliable, verified and responsible knowledge?
This issue is especially important for Georgia because the country is a small information space with high digital engagement. In 2025, 92.0 percent of households in Georgia had internet access, 87.9 percent of the population aged 6 and older used the internet during the previous three months, and 96.0 percent of internet users aged 15 and older used social networks. According to DataReportal, Georgia had 3.05 million social media user identities at the end of 2025. This means that algorithms have already become part of the infrastructure of information, politics, business, public opinion and trust – not only entertainment.
Main idea
In the age of algorithmic media, the information problem is no longer only about falsehood. It is also about the fact that reliable and unreliable content, important and noisy content, facts and emotional manipulation, journalism and content, human writing and AI-generated text all appear in the same flow.
A social media algorithm usually does not select information like an editor. Its main goal is often engagement: what keeps the user on the screen, what triggers emotion, what increases comments, shares, watch time or reactions. This does not mean that every platform intentionally spreads bad information. But it means that the information environment is governed by a different logic: the attention economy.
For trusted media, this is a major challenge. Quality journalism is expensive. It requires editors, source verification, fact-checking, context, responsibility, ethics, time and professional standards. In the fast-moving social media environment, quick, emotional, short and conflict-driven content often wins.
For Georgia, this is especially sensitive because the information space is small, political polarization is high, social networks are mass channels, and AI-generated text, images, video and audio further reduce the cost of disinformation.
Georgia context: when news comes through the feed
For many Georgian citizens, the day begins with a phone. A person opens a social network and sees what the platform shows: a video, a headline, a shared post, a short clip, an emotional comment, a brand advertisement, a political campaign fragment, an influencer’s opinion, “sensational” information from an unknown page or an AI-generated visual.
The user often cannot see why this information appeared on the screen. Was it shared by a friend? Was it advertising? Was it an algorithmic recommendation? A viral video? A political campaign? A foreign influence operation? AI-generated material? Or a piece of journalism from a trusted media outlet?
In this uncertainty, citizens must decide whether to believe or verify, share or wait, react emotionally or check the source.
This is where the core problem emerges: information abundance does not automatically mean an informed society. On the contrary, when there is too much information and weak signals of reliability, people often choose what emotionally confirms their existing views.
Why the role of media is changing
The traditional role of media was to verify, select, organize and explain information for society. In the algorithmic environment, this role is weakened not because journalism is no longer needed, but because the audience’s route to media has changed.
People do not necessarily enter a news outlet’s homepage. They may encounter only a headline, fragment, social post, comment context or a short video clip on TikTok. In other words, society often consumes not the full journalistic product, but an algorithmically cut part of it.
This has three consequences.
First, newsrooms struggle to maintain direct relationships with audiences. The platform stands between the media and the reader.
Second, context is lost. Full analysis is replaced by short video, headline or emotional fragment.
Third, trusted media competes not only with other media, but with influencers, anonymous pages, AI bots, political campaign channels and algorithmically distributed half-truths.
This is why a trusted news strategy in Georgia should not be only about supporting “good journalism.” It should be an information ecosystem strategy.
Georgia’s digital and media environment in a few numbers
The importance of algorithmic information space in Georgia is also visible from the scale of digital engagement.
In 2025, 92.0 percent of households in Georgia had internet access. This means the internet is already a mass household infrastructure.
Among the population aged 6 and older, 87.9 percent had used the internet during the previous three months. The digital environment therefore affects not only young people, but a broad part of society.
Among internet users aged 15 and older, 96.0 percent used social networks. This indicator shows that social networks are one of Georgia’s main spaces for information, communication and public opinion.
According to DataReportal, Georgia had 3.05 million social media user identities at the end of 2025. For a small country, this is a very large digital audience.
CRRC Georgia’s 2024 media consumption study examined media consumption habits, perceptions of disinformation, fact-checking behavior and vulnerability to disinformation through a nationally representative survey, focus groups and interviews with media-sector representatives. This shows that information behavior in Georgia should be studied systematically, not discussed only through intuition.
The overall picture is clear: in Georgia, the algorithm is no longer only a technological intermediary. It is one of the main mechanisms for distributing public information.
Why algorithmic information space is a risk
- Emotion spreads faster than facts
On social networks, the fastest-spreading content often triggers strong emotion: fear, anger, shame, ridicule, doubt or excitement. Trusted journalism is often slower because verification and context take time.
This creates an asymmetry: falsehood can spread quickly, while truth often has to catch up.
- Users see personalized realities, not a shared reality
Two people may live in the same country but experience entirely different information environments. Algorithms show them content based on past behavior, interests, emotions and engagement.
This creates “parallel realities,” where society may not even agree on the same facts.
- AI lowers the cost of disinformation
In the past, a false campaign required time, text, design, video, translation and human labor. Now AI can quickly generate hundreds of texts, visuals, voices, video scripts or comments. This increases the scale of information attacks.
For Georgia, as a small-language market, this is especially risky. A few well-organized campaigns can have a large effect on the Georgian-language information space.
- Young people are more dependent on platform logic
Young people often receive news not in the full format of traditional media, but through short videos, reels, stories, influencers and friends’ shares. This is not automatically bad, but it requires a new form of media literacy.
- The financial model of trusted media weakens
If quality media reaches audiences through platforms, while a large share of advertising and attention goes to social networks, the economic basis of trusted journalism weakens. This is a democratic problem, not only a business problem.
Does Georgia need a trusted news strategy?
Georgia needs a strategy for the visibility of trustworthy information, media literacy and platform accountability – not censorship.
A trusted news strategy should not mean that the state decides which opinion is correct. That would be dangerous. The right approach is to strengthen signals of reliability:
Who is the source?
Who is the author?
Was the material edited?
Are sources cited?
Is advertising labeled?
Was AI used?
How can the fact be checked?
What standards does the media follow?
How are errors corrected?
A trusted news strategy should be democratic, transparent and non-partisan. Its main purpose should be citizens’ information protection, not control of opinion.
What Georgian media should do
For Georgian media, the main challenge is rebuilding trust and strengthening direct relationships with audiences.
This requires:
clearer source citation;
visible fact-checking;
transparent correction of mistakes;
public explanation of AI-use rules;
short but reliable formats for young audiences;
platform distribution strategies;
newsletters and direct audience channels;
data-driven journalism;
explanatory journalism;
public communication of newsroom standards.
Georgian media cannot win against algorithms with long articles alone. It needs new formats: short video, Q&A, visual explanation, data graphics, explainers, podcasts and reliable content adapted for social media.
But changing format does not mean lowering standards. On the contrary, trust is even more important in short formats.
What should the state do
The role of the state requires caution. Any intervention in the media sphere can become a risk of political control. Therefore, state strategy should focus not on content control, but on infrastructure support and citizens’ information security.
Several steps are needed:
national media literacy programs in schools, universities and older-age groups;
principles for labeling AI-generated content in high-risk areas;
transparency of political advertising on platforms;
fast, accessible and understandable publication of public information;
common standards for crisis communication;
support for disinformation research;
open access to reliable data;
discussion of non-partisan mechanisms to support media sustainability;
cooperation with platforms on transparency.
The state should not decide what citizens should think. But it should ensure that citizens have access to reliable data, verified information and critical thinking skills.
What should the business do
For business, a trusted information environment is not only a public good. It is an issue of reputation, consumer trust and crisis management.
Companies should consider that:
false information on social networks can quickly damage a brand;
AI-generated fake ads or deepfakes can mislead consumers;
delayed communication in a crisis increases risk in an algorithmic environment;
official brand channels should be reliable, fast and verifiable;
employees need basic knowledge of disinformation risks;
companies should know how to label AI-generated commercial content.
In the future, trust may become one of the main forms of brand capital. A company that communicates quickly, transparently and responsibly will be more memorable in algorithmic noise.
Key risks for Georgia
The first risk is the scaling of disinformation. AI can cheaply and quickly generate text, visuals and voices, making information attacks easier.
The second risk is deeper social polarization. If people constantly see only content tailored to them, the shared factual basis weakens.
The third risk is information vulnerability among young people. Short video can be highly effective, but it can also spread manipulative or decontextualized information easily.
The fourth risk is the financial weakening of trusted media. If quality journalism has no sustainable model, noise wins in the information space.
The fifth risk is digital pollution of the Georgian language through low-quality AI texts, translations and automated content.
Key opportunities for Georgia
The first opportunity is to create a new model of trusted media – more transparent, data-driven, understandable for young people and adapted to the AI era.
The second opportunity is mass strengthening of media literacy. A small country can quickly build a national skill: how to verify what we read and share.
The third opportunity is Georgian AI and high-quality Georgian-language information infrastructure. If Georgia creates trustworthy, citable and well-structured Georgian materials, this becomes an important resource for both AI systems and society.
The fourth opportunity is a new role for universities – not only in education, but in explaining complex issues to society.
The fifth opportunity is a new partnership between business and media: brands may support trusted, explanatory and data-based content, not only advertising.
BTU experts’ assessment
According to BTU experts, Georgia needs a new trusted news strategy, but it should not be a strategy of state control or content censorship. Its essence should be trust infrastructure: media literacy, data transparency, AI-content labeling, crisis communication, source culture, platform cooperation and support for quality journalism.
The main danger for Georgia is that algorithmic environments may fragment the shared reality and shared factual basis of society. When people receive only personalized, emotionally loaded and often unverified information, trust weakens, polarization deepens and public dialogue becomes more difficult.
The main opportunity is that Georgia, as a small and adaptable country, can build a modern model of trusted media and media literacy – one that connects journalism, universities, data, AI, education and citizen information protection.
The main conclusion is that in the age of AI and algorithms, trusted information is no longer only a media problem. It is an issue of national knowledge, education, democratic trust, business reputation and the digital quality of the Georgian language. Georgia does not need more noise. It needs more trust.
Key findings
- Social networks are already one of Georgia’s main information channels because internet and social media use is high.
- Algorithms often shape the information environment according to engagement logic, not public importance.
- AI lowers the cost of creating and spreading disinformation.
- The problem of trusted media is not only fighting falsehood; it is building trust infrastructure.
- Georgia needs a trusted news strategy, but not in the form of censorship or content control.
- Universities can become important centers of trusted explanatory content, media literacy and information research.
- For business, a trusted information environment is an issue of reputation and crisis management.
- The digital quality of the Georgian language depends on how much reliable and well-structured Georgian content is created in the AI era.
Data and evidence base
In 2025, 92.0 percent of households in Georgia had internet access.
Among the population aged 6 and older, 87.9 percent had used the internet during the previous three months.
Among internet users aged 15 and older, 96.0 percent used social networks.
According to DataReportal, Georgia had 3.05 million social media user identities at the end of 2025.
CRRC Georgia’s 2024 media consumption study was based on a nationally representative survey, focus groups and interviews with media-sector representatives. The study aimed to examine media consumption habits, perceptions of disinformation, fact-checking behavior and vulnerability to disinformation.
Additional research is needed for Georgia: which age groups receive news mainly from social networks; how much citizens trust different types of media; how people verify information; whether users recognize AI-generated material; how short videos on social networks influence political and social perceptions; and what the economic condition of trusted media is.
Methodology
This report was prepared as part of BTUAI Research. The analysis is based on publicly available data about Georgia’s digital engagement, media consumption, social network use and perceptions of disinformation, as well as international trends in algorithmic media, AI-generated content, platform economics and trusted information strategies.
The materials are processed using analytical methods applied by BTU researchers, with the support of BTUAI.
The purpose of the research is not to evaluate any specific media outlet, platform or political position, but to explain an information environment that may affect Georgian citizens, businesses, education, media and democratic trust.
Limitations
The algorithmic information environment changes quickly. Platform recommendation systems, AI-content distribution, political communication and user behavior may shift in a short period.
This material does not evaluate any specific media outlet, platform, political party or public institution.
Public data on algorithmic recommendations, AI-generated political content and the exact scale of disinformation in Georgia remains limited. The analysis therefore relies on available digital and media consumption data, as well as analytical interpretation adapted to Georgia’s context.
This material is analytical and educational in nature. It does not constitute legal, political, commercial or technology-procurement advice. Before making specific decisions, consultation with a relevant specialist is required.
Sources
National Statistics Office of Georgia data on household use of information and communication technologies.
DataReportal data on social media users in Georgia.
CRRC Georgia media consumption research on media use, perceptions of disinformation and fact-checking behavior in Georgia.
International analysis of algorithmic media, AI-generated content, trusted news strategies and the information influence of platforms.
BTUAI analytical interpretation based on Georgia’s media environment, education, business, AI, Georgian language and public trust context.
Frequently asked questions
Does a trusted news strategy mean censorship?
No. A properly designed trusted news strategy does not mean controlling opinion. It means strengthening reliability signals: source, author, editing, fact-checking, advertising disclosure, AI-use transparency and correction mechanisms.
Why are social networks so important for Georgia?
Internet and social media use are very high in Georgia. Social networks are therefore not only entertainment platforms, but also spaces for information, political debate, brands and public opinion.
What role does AI play in disinformation?
AI reduces the cost of generating fake text, images, audio, video and comments. This makes disinformation easier to scale.
What should citizens do?
Citizens should check sources, avoid sharing emotional information without verification, seek full context, identify advertising and AI-generated material, and remember that not every popular post is reliable information.
What is the main conclusion for Georgia?
Georgia needs a trusted media, media literacy and AI-era information security strategy that does not control opinion, but strengthens citizens’ ability to find reliable and verified information.
Keywords
trusted news; algorithmic media; social media in Georgia; AI and disinformation; media literacy; Georgian media; platforms and democracy; information security; Georgian language and AI; BTUAI; Business and Technology University.
Citation format
BTUAI Research Team. “When Algorithms Decide What We Know: Does Georgia Need a New Trusted News Strategy?” Business and Technology University, BTUAI.ge, 2026.
Prepared by the academic team of Business and Technology University and the BTUAI Research Team.
Tbilisi, Georgia
Georgian version available here: [link]
BTUAI is an analytical platform of Business and Technology University that studies the impact of artificial intelligence, digital transformation, innovation, startup ecosystems, data analytics and emerging technologies on business, the economy, education and society. BTUAI materials are designed to explain complex technological and economic changes in a clear, reliable and Georgia-focused way.